The influence of current collectors on Tayler instability and electro-vortex flows in liquid metal batteries

摘要

The Tayler instability (TI) is a kink-type flow instability which occurs when theelectrical current through a conducting fluid exceeds a certain critical value. Originallystudied in the astrophysical context, the instability was recently discussed asa possible limiting factor for the upward scalability of liquid metal batteries. In thispaper, we continue our efforts to simulate this instability for liquid metals withinthe framework of an integro-differential equation approach. The original solver isenhanced by multi-domain support with Dirichlet-Neumann partitioning for the staticboundaries. Particular focus is laid on the detailed influence of the axial electricalboundary conditions on the characteristic features of the Tayler instability and,second, on the occurrence of electro-vortex flows and their relevance for liquid metalbatteries. Electro-vortex flows might pose a larger risk to the integrity of the batterythan the TI